"A Committee of Correspondence"

15 April 2015

"The Marquis de Lafayette Sails Again" - TTG

In March 1780, “la frégate L'Hermione” set out from Rochefort bound for Boston. Its speed and agility suited it ideally to the task of carrying Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, back to America. He was charged with giving George Washington the nation-saving news that France would soon be sending an infusion of arms, ships and men.

Many people had waited a long time for this moment. The French spent 17 years and $28 million replicating the Hermione down to the last detail, from its gilded-lion figurehead to the fleur-de-lis painted on its stern. When the original Hermione was built in 1779, it was the pride of a newly re-energized French Navy: a 216-foot, 32-gun barracuda that could take a real bite out of the arrogant English, who not only ruled the waves but concocted an in-your-face anthem about it—“Rule, Britannia!”—in 1740.

With a sleek, copper-bottomed hull, the Hermione could out-sail almost any ship it couldn’t out-shoot. Even the English recognized the Hermione’s excellence when they captured its sister ship, the Concorde. They promptly reverse-engineered their prize, drawing detailed schematics to help re­create the vessel for their own fleet. (Smithsonian)

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“She sails like a bird!” This is what Lafayette wrote of his voyage on L'Hermione. The recreated ship will arrive for an American visit this Summer and I am damned excited about it. She will make port calls from Yorktown, Virginia to Castine, Maine with stops at Mount Vernon and Alexandria in June. I will be there. Yes, in a bow to modern maritime requirements, she has two 400 horsepower engine pods, but I will be there to gaze at the linen sails, the tarred hemp standing rigging, the manila lines and the voluptuous oak hull.

I worked in a waterfront office in Alexandria for several years. Each year several tall ships would dock a short walk from my office. I would spend as much time as I could at the dock. These ships fascinate me and fill me with awe and wonder. I visited them wherever I could from Hamburg, Germany to San Francisco. I was aboard the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan in Mystic Seaport as a child. At that time the whaler was “dry-docked” on rocks next to the wharf. I remember laying in one of the small uncomfortable bunks and dreaming about “Two Years Before the Mast” and “Moby Dick.” Happily, she too has been restored and sails once again.

I can hardly wait to see “la frégate L'Hermione” on the Potomac. I only hope that the winds are favorable and the captain bold enough to sail up the river.

I know the area well. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time from Biddeford to Brunswick due to my job. I would spend time sitting on the rocks at Cape Elizabeth and watching the surf no matter what the season. The best time was when the rugosa roses were in bloom. Between their spicy fragrance and the sea spray, it was heavenly.

I hope you enjoy yourself TTG, there is nothing quite like sail. I spent an afternoon sans camera at Mystic one year when I had finished my business with P&W at Hartford. I still remember driving through all there "bury's" in a Thunderbird and then happening on Mystic on my way back to Boston.

"Once she reaches Virginia after a stop at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands the Hermione will head up the coast, calling at Annapolis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Greenport, Newport, Boston, Castine and then Lunenberg/Halifax, Nova Sciotia before heading back to France."

HMS Surprise is permanently docked in San Diego, anong with the Star of India. I tour both of them frequently and never tire of them. A full sixed replica of San Salvador, flagship of explorer Juan Cabrillo, will soon join them.

I was having lunch on the dock one day when a family was preparing to tour Surprise. The teenaged kids were more interested in the tee shirts for sale than they were in the ships. Mom and the kids were amusedly tolerant of Dad, who was starry eyed at the prospect of treading the decks of Surprise. While he was getting the tickets his wife said to me that "He's read all of the books. We live in Portland, and took our vacation in San Digeo so that he could see this ship."

You are right. This is a beautiful ship. We visited it some months ago and walked its decks. I hope you get to fully enjoy its visit to the US.

Couple minor points: no copper on the hull. The ropes are tarred hemp. The US needs to make legal this wonderful plant that has so many uses and, while related, it does not have the same narcotic characteristics as marijuana.

I live in the Cape TTG, and my office is there. And I daily walk the path along the rocks you write about. And I still love to pause at a certain point, and look out to Cushing's Island. One of the great Islands in Casco Bay.

My guess is that she will dock in Old Town at the Robinson terminal dock at the end of Orinoco Street or anchor just offshore like the Godspeed did several years ago. She's scheduled for Mount Vernon on 9 June and 10-12 June in Alexandria.